Education, Youth and Information Minister Fayval Williams has announced that there will be an increase in the number of schooldays in this academic year for grade six students who are slated to sit the ability test component of the Pri...

MANDEVILLE, Manchester - It was smooth sailing at Mandeville Regional Hospital yesterday as health workers at that institution became the first in this south-central parish to get the COVID-19 vaccine. Vaccination of essential health wo...

DR Peter Phillips, Member of Parliament for East Central St Andrew and former Opposition leader, said yesterday he was saddened by news of the sudden passing of long-time friend and colleague Professor Edwin Jones."Professor Jones was a...

THE coronavirus pandemic has hit the church hard, rendering some outreach ministries severely underfunded. But amid the challenges, the Jamaica Council of Churches (JCC) said holy temples across the country have seen an influx of Christ...

This is part of a series by Jamaica Observer reporters and editors looking at the impact of the novel coronavirus on various sectors of the economy since the first case was reported locally on March 10, 2020.MANDEVILLE, Manchester - Wit...

FORMER prime ministers P J Patterson and Bruce Golding yesterday ignored their political antecedents as they joined hands and endorsed the Ministry of Health's plea for Jamaicans to accept the COVID-19 vaccine.Patterson, Golding and his...

FIVE gunmen were yesterday shot dead in a gunfight with members of the security forces in Bedward Gardens, St Andrew, bringing immediate relief to some residents of nearby August Town, who claimed that men from that area have been terro...

Sandals Royal Caribbean's new general manager, Dawn Smith (centre), hands over Managers of the Month awards for February to Hermione Hennings-James (left)of the Loyalty and Travel Department, and Carlene England, sales manager. The awar...

Attorney-at-law Gavin Goffe is urging the Government to reform its labour laws.Speaking yesterday at the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ) virtual Economic Series, aimed at making Jamaica investor-friendly through labour ref...

Today is the 70th day of 2021. There are 295 days left in the year.TODAY'S HIGHLIGHT2008: The Belgian Government and banks agree to pay US$170 million (euro110 million) to Holocaust survivors, families of victims and the Jewish communit...

EFFECTIVE April 1, 2021, students seeking a loan from the Students' Loan Bureau (SLB) will now only require one guarantor instead of two.This was announced by Minister of Finance and the Public Service Dr Nigel Clarke, who said this is ...

Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport Olivia Grange says issues affecting women must be tackled in the process of recovering gains lost under the novel coronavirus pandemic.Addressing the opening of a European Union (EU)...

THE Jamaica Pubic Service (JPS) has reported that since the commissioning of the Michleton Halt Substation in St Catherine, at the end of 2019, Linstead and surrounding communities have seen a 37 per cent improvement in reliability. The...

CHIEF public health inspector for Westmoreland Steve Morris says take-up of the COVID-19 vaccine in several countries has shown efficacy in reducing hospitalisations and the rate of infections.Speaking in an interview with JIS News, Mor...

MONIQUE French, chief credit officer at CIBC FirstCaribbean, is the winner of the 2021 WeQual Award.She aced 24 female executives of some of the biggest companies in the Americas identified as having the leadership traits for top-level ...

NEW YORK, United States (AP) - No one has been untouched.Not the Michigan woman who awakened one morning, her relative = dead by her side. Not the domestic worker in Mozambique, her livelihood threatened by the virus. Not the North Caro...

MANDALAY, Myanmar (AP) - Myanmar security forces on Wednesday raided a neighbourhood in the country's largest city that houses state railway workers who have gone on strike to protest last month's military coup.Police sealed off the Min...

FLORIDA, United States (AP) - Maria Ortiz left Venezuela almost four years ago when she realised her job opportunities were nonexistent. Freshly graduated from college with a degree in petroleum engineering, she boarded a plane and trad...

Exactly one year to the day when the very first COVID-19 case was confirmed in Jamaica, Sandals Resorts International has announced its intention to gift 300 health-care workers across the region with complimentary two-night stays at it...

Finance Minister Dr Nigel Clarke says while the country is at the beginning of the end of the COVID-19 health crisis, the same cannot be said for the economic predicament, but sound pre-pandemic policies have created buffers which will...

This is part of a series by Jamaica Observer reporters and editors looking at the impact of the novel coronavirus of various sectors of the economy since the first case was reported locally on March 10, 2020. See Entertainment and Busin...

The Spectrum Management Authority (SMA) has extended the deadline for submission of the requests for proposal (RFPs) for a licence in the 700 MHz spectrum (band 13) to March 23, 2021 at 1:00 pm.Managing director of the SMA, Dr Maria Mye...

Two-term People's National Party (PNP) councillor for the Papine Division, Venesha Phillips, who was defeated in her quest to represent St Andrew Eastern as Member of Parliament (MP) in the 2020 General Election, is indicating that she ...

Finance Minister Dr Nigel Clarke yesterday said that despite planning to spend billions of dollars on economic recovery through a robust infrastructure programme, as well as extending the State's social responsibilities in the face of ...

The Government says Jamaicans will have access to digital currency by next year as the Holness Administration advances on strategies to transform the nation into a digital society.Making the announcement in his presentation to open the ...

GEORGETOWN, Guyana (CMC) - Caribbean Community (Caricom) Secretary General Irwin LaRocque on Monday called on the region to intensify efforts to address the obstacles faced by women, in a message to mark International Women's Day.Even a...

MANDEVILLE, Manchester - The Sydney L Blake Basic School was recently refurbished with cubicles for students to promote social distancing amidst the novel coronavirus pandemic.The school located in north-west Manchester was adopted by t...

The money raised from this year's Sigma Corporate Run moved closer to the $50-million target as the organisers, Sagicor Jamaica, reported that it now has $48,510,453.07 that will go towards providing improved health services at Annotto ...

A researcher is calling for nutrition labels that provide consumers with information that can be easily read, so they can make healthier food choices.In an interview with JIS News, winner of the Award for Best Student Oral Presentation ...

A key utility company has pivoted to step up customer service using digital tools. Jamaica Public Service (JPS) has notified its customers that a number of their face-to-face offices will close as of April 1 and be replaced with online ...

The police yesterday reported that a 55-year-old man and his 11-year-old son have been charged with shop-breaking and larceny.According to a news release from the constabulary's Corporate Communications Unit (CCU), about 2:40 am Monday,...

Despite howls of protest from undertakers, families, and other people affected by the two-week ban on funerals and burials, the Government has not changed its position on the measure which took effect on Monday, but says it may offer s...

Today is the 69th day of 2021. There are 296 days left in the year. TODAY'S HIGHLIGHT1959: The Dalai Lama leads a rebellion against Chinese rule. The revolt fails and the Dalai Lama flees to India. OTHER EVENTS1496: Christopher Columbu...

LONDON, England (AP) - Buckingham Palace said yesterday that allegations of racism made earlier this week by Prince Harry and Meghan were "concerning" and would be addressed privately by the royal family.The comments, made in a statemen...

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC) - Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh on Monday disclosed that Trinidad and Tobago will get only a third of the doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines expected from the COVAX Facility this month.He said a...

Q. What is the history of the H-2 visa programme?A: As the United States faced labour shortages during World War II, the US War Department facilitated an agreement that enabled Jamaicans to fill critical labour needs in the US agricultu...

Dear Mr Brown,I want to know when colleges will reopen for physical classes in Toronto. I would like to go to Canada for September to study at Centennial College. Also, I heard that Toronto is no longer on lockdown. Does that mean thing...

THE Major Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Agency (MOCA) yesterday "exhumed" the 2018 Petrojam scandal, leading to sighs of relief from the Opposition People's National Party (PNP) that what many thought of as deeply buried is back o...

WITH Jamaica finally in receipt of its first batch of COVID-19 vaccines, which was delivered yesterday as a gift from India, Prime Minister Andrew Holness has expressed eagerness to receive his shot in the arm but has insisted that fron...

MINISTER of Finance and the Public Service Dr Nigel Clarke will open the 2021/22 Budget Debate at Gordon House today as he leads the economy into another challenging year in which Government is seeking recovery from the painful blows of...

Having lost four cousins to COVID-19 last year, 60-year-old Norman Pryce, a Jamaican living in Long Island, New York, is infuriated by people who trivialise the pandemic on social media. He is also encouraging Jamaicans, especially fro...

GENEVA, Switzerland - A senior World Health Organization official said that so-called vaccine passports for COVID-19 should not be used for international travel because of numerous concerns, including ethical considerations that corona...

PRIME Minister Andrew Holness warned yesterday that the country is the closest it has ever been to going into lockdown since the novel coronavirus pandemic hit the country in March 2020.He told a virtual press conference from Jamaica Ho...

THE family in the Corporate Area community of Kingston Gardens which was in mourning last week following the death of the matriarch who had tested positive for COVID-19, is devastated today with the passing of the woman's 32-year-old da...

A marine-based project to prove the concept that shellfish and seaweed can be farmed on a sustainable basis in Jamaica has been agreed on between the British High Commission in Kingston and the Alligator Head Foundation (AHF).The projec...

The J Wray and Nephew Foundation (JWNF) yesterday focused its International Women's Day (IWD) celebrations on highlighting the issue of period poverty, in keeping with the IWD theme 'Women in Leadership: Achieving an equal future in a ...

THE National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) has hastened to quiet fears that its proposals for the redevelopment of squatter communities in the Gregory Park, Newlands, Naggo Head and Old Braeton areas of Portmore, St Catherine, ...

NEW YORK, United States (AP) - Fully vaccinated Americans can gather with other vaccinated people indoors without wearing a mask or social distancing, according to long-awaited guidance from federal health officials.The recommendations ...

A dog rests on Beeston Street in downtown Kingston where a fire early Monday morning destroyed several houses (seen in background) leaving one person dead and 30, including nine children, homeless. (Photo: Garfield Robinson)

Today is the day of 2021. There are days left in the year.TODAY'S HIGHLIGHT2005: A morning snack of cassava - a root that turns into poisonous cyanide if not prepared correctly - kills 27 and sickens 100 children at an elementary school...